Claiming
by Alixtii
Summary: After "Chosen," Dawn must follow the Slayers into the world of dreams, and Tara is waiting for her.


"Are you sure?" Tara hears Giles ask. The moment is pregnant, mystically speaking, and his voice carries over into the Otherworld. 

"You said it had to be a girl," Dawn answers, "and everyone else who meets the criteria--unless you or Xander have been keeping a major secret--is still asleep. So I don't think we really have an option here." Across the Otherworld, hundreds of Slayers and one witch--everyone who was involved in the spell that Willow cast--dream.

There is a pause, and presumably Giles is about to say something, because Dawn says quickly, as if cutting him off, "Yes, Giles, I know the risks."

Then there is chanting, as the three of them begin the ritual. Amanda shoots a nervous glance over to Tara. "You ready for this?" she asks.

Tara nods. Willow is dreaming about Tara, of course, and so is Kennedy, strangely enough, and it's more than a little taxing needing to be in three places at once. But Dawn deserves to be met by someone she can trust, and apparently the First Evil is comfortable using Tara as her voice.

They complete their ritual, back on Earth, and Dawn slips into her trance, emerging from the mists into the Otherworld. She is naked here, vulnerable and exposed to this world of dreams and nightmares, and Tara steps forward to wrap her in a gossamer cloak. "Tara," Dawn says, recognizing her, and there is surprise and relief in her voice, and also the sadness at the remembrance of loss. They are almost tangible here, on the Otherworld, wrapping Tara in the emotion and melody of what is not really sound but thought.

"Hello, Dawn," Tara says, and gives the girl a quick hug, trying to assuage her fear.

"The Slayers--" Dawn says, and Tara nods.

"They'll wake," Tara promises. "As soon as she is done with you here, they'll be returned to their bodies as well."

"She?" Dawn asks, then decides another question is more important and continues with, "Will they be okay?"

Tara shoots a quick look at Amanda, whom Dawn cannot see. Amanda just shrugs. "Do you know the joke about the patient who asked his doctor if he'd be able to play the piano after an operation?"

"And he couldn't play the piano before?" Dawn says. Then realization seeps in. "Oh." After a pause, she asks, "Will they be _as_ okay?"

"They'll be changed," Tara answers, wishing she could say something to reassure Dawn. "I don't think it will be for the worse." She's unable to promise anything more.

Dawn nods, knowing she'll have to accept that as answer. "It's like what happened to them, after Adam, when they cast that spell?"

Tara nods.

"And 'she'? The First Slayer?"

Dawn always did catch on fast. Tara stands aside, lets the form of the Slayer spirit take form out of the mist. The First Slayer eyes Dawn, warily, circling around the girl, watching Dawn.

"What does she want from me?" Dawn asks, and this time the emotion which floats to Tara on Dawn's voice is tinged with more than a little fear.

"The line of the Guardians is spent," Tara answers, speaking for the Slayer. "She must choose someone else to lead her lineage."

"Me?" asks Dawn. "But there's Giles, or Willow if you need a woman--"

"She has made her choice," Tara answers with finality. "And she has chosen you, Dawn." She shoots a look at Amanda, who smiles and fades back into the mist.

Dawn swallows. "Okay."

Tara reaches out, touches Dawn, strokes the girl's cheek. "She wants you. Dawn," Tara says, her voice smooth. "She wants you to belong to her." And, still acting in proxy for the First Slayer, she leans for a kiss, to claim Dawn as hers, and pulls off the cloak she wrapped Dawn in.

* * *

Dawn is making love to Tara (well, not really, Tara knows, but the Otherworld is multidimensional, too much for a human mind, and this is how Dawn makes sense of it), but she is also making love to the First Slayer, and to every Slayer through the ages, to Kendra and to Amanda and to Kennedy and to Faith--Dawn tries not to think how that list would have to include Buffy--and to Vi and to Caridad and to--

Hundreds of girls in the present, newly awakened, newly Called, and hundreds of girls in the past, tracing all the way back to the First Slayer, and hundreds of girls who haven't been called yet, most of whom haven't even been born yet, Slayers yet to come.

She is naked to them; she gives herself up to them; body, soul, and mind, she is theirs.


End file.
